“For… Sol,” he gasped.
Khirro shook his head. Beside him, Athryn spoke foreign words in a whisper of breath passing between his lips. Khirro hung his head, closed his eyes. He didn’t move when Athryn’s arm encircled his waist and only opened his eyes when he felt the hard ground fall away beneath his knees, his hand come away from the dying man’s chest.
The smooth-faced man stared up at them, eyes glassy. The other underground-dwellers were on their knees, faces raised to watch Khirro and Athryn rise toward the slim slice of light. For the first time, Khirro realized that, with the light of Sol shining down from above, the chamber must have been a sacred place to them, a church of sorts. And now a life had been sacrificed upon its altar, a miracle performed before them in the name of the God they could only glimpse and never hope to truly see or feel.
The man’s sacrifice filled Khirro’s thoughts. It could easily have been Maes, Shyn or Elyea lying dead on the ground below them, or Gendred, Rudric or the Shaman. So many lives had passed in keeping Khirro and the king’s spirit safe.
Too many.
Warmth bathed Khirro’s face and he looked away from the dying youth, turned his eyes toward the light of Sol. The crack in the ceiling of the cavern was bigger than he’d thought from the ground-big enough to fit a man through without difficulty.
“Why did he do that?”
Athryn didn’t answer as he concentrated on the incantation murmuring through his lips. Another minute and they passed through the crack. Athryn’s chant ended as they came to rest on yellowed grass on the bank of a modest river. Khirro blinked against the light of the sun until his eyes grew accustomed.
A rolling plain dotted with occasional stands of cottonwood and oak trees spread out from the river, racing toward the forest marking the horizon. To the west, the smoke of a multitude of fires spiraled toward the sky, melding into one thicker column. He tapped Athryn on the shoulder and gestured. The magician nodded, then searched the sky and their surroundings with his gaze.
“We should go there for supplies,” he said.
“But where are we?”
“That is the first city. The city of Poltghasa.”
A chill crawled up Khirro’s spine.
Chapter Twenty-Two
He’s coming. I couldn’t feel him before, but I can now. For a week, nothing but the stink of the city and its men to kill have occupied my senses. He wasn’t here before, now he is, or he’s close.
“Get out.”
The man lying naked in my bed regards me with a startled look but quickly jumps from under the covers. I watch his thing bounce and jiggle, slack from the sex we’ve just had, and wonder if I should kill him. He’s done nothing to warrant it, but no one’s been left alive in my wake to this point, so why should he be the only one to survive? I stand, the blanket tumbling off my body, and the cold air envelopes my flesh. The man shrinks away as I take a step toward him. I’m naked and he’s afraid of me-rightfully so. Already I have a reputation in this city of killers, thieves and rapists.
I have no choice but to kill him.
“Please,” he says as I take another step.
“‘Please’ what?”
“Please don’t kill me.”
I run my fingers down his bare chest and he flinches. Does he think it loving gesture or threat?
“Why would I kill you? Didn’t we bring each other pleasure?”
He nods, eyes wide, and his gaze flickers to his sword belt then back to me like he hopes I haven’t seen the transgression. I have. A small excuse is as good as any.
“Do you think me some kind of monster?”
The brief pause before he shakes his head tells me volumes. I smile and put my hand on his cheek. He turns his head away.
“If you fear me, why did you lay with me?”
He abandons all pretense, thinking the truth will save him.
“I…my friends said I wasn’t brave enough to.”
I nod. “Will they give you money because you did?”
He shrugs and I lean close.
“Doesn’t that make you a whore? Taking money in exchange for fucking?”
Nostrils flaring, he draws a deep breath, unsure how to answer. It doesn’t matter what he says, I’ll kill him anyway; I only have to decide how. He shakes his head, hoping to change my mind.
“It’s not like that.”
“I’m no man’s toy.”
I grab between his legs with my left hand and one of his balls bulges then explodes in my grip. His scream is high-pitched and he tries to push me away, hands buffeting my breasts and shoulders. I thrust my forehead against his nose and mouth, shattering teeth and spilling blood. His scream becomes a strained gurgle. He reaches for my throat and I twist his arm, breaking it below the elbow, sending him to his knees, then I press his blood-streaked face into my cunt, smothering him with my womanhood and his own cum. My thumb finds his eye. I push hard until his eyeball pops and is forced into his brain, killing him.
He tumbles to the floor, limp and lifeless, and I wonder who has won the bet as I wipe his blood and semen from between my legs. I look up to see the black-cloaked woman standing before me. We stand for a long moment as I resist the urge to cover my nakedness. She surprises me by pulling the cowl back from her head and revealing her face to me for the first time.
She is beautiful.
Blond hair disappears down the back of her cloak. Long lashes flutter and red lips smile. My loins tingle at the sight of her and my breath shortens; I wonder what’s hidden beneath the cloak, then attempt to dispel the thought. I wouldn’t be the one surviving that encounter, not if she didn’t want me to.
“The time for practice and distraction is done,” she says, the music of her voice gracing the space between us.
Oh, that there wasn’t so much space.
I shake my head. Focus. “He approaches.”
She nods. I hear the gentle sound of her hair caressing the fabric of her cloak and imagine it doing the same to my breasts, my thighs.
What’s wrong with me?
I blink and she’s directly in front of me, close enough I feel her breath caress my cheek. Did she hear my heart longing for her? My hand twitches, wanting to reach out and pull her cloak aside, to reveal the wonder of her body beneath it, but I keep myself in check. Not the time or place.
“He will be here within the day.” She steps closer still and her lips brush mine, tantalizing, as she speaks again. “Do not fail me.”
Her mouth presses against mine and pleasure explodes through me, squirming in my chest and between my legs, tingling my arms and hands. I reach up wanting to twist her golden locks through my fingers, to pull them hard and bend her to my will, but I’m stopped by the feel of her taking the breath from my lungs. This kiss wasn’t for pleasure, but a promise of my fate if I don’t accomplish what she’s brought me back for. I don’t struggle, accepting whatever she intends for me as my lungs shrink, but she pulls away and I gasp air into my chest; to fill my lungs, yes, but also to occupy the emptiness left when her lips leave mine.
She smiles at me, several strides away now.
“Next time I see you, Khirro will be dead.” She pulls the front of her cloak aside revealing her perfect naked body, her alabaster skin. “And then you shall be rewarded.”
And she’s gone.
A deep breath shudders down my throat and finds thankful lungs. I stand awhile naked, alone, oblivious to anything but the sensation of desire draining from my body, leaving me empty. Until the time comes that it’s filled again, there’s but one thing to quench the thirst she’s left in me.
Blood.
***
The sun sinks from the sky and the city whispers of strangers approaching from the east-two men who came out of the ground. I whisper back that they’re to be left alone, they belong to Shariel. We’ll see if the seeds of fear I planted have grown enough in these few short days that they heed my bidding. But it’s always best to tend your crops, so I patrol the streets, seeking to ensure my harvest.